They Threw Us Away by Daniel Kraus

Author:Daniel Kraus
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

“Out of all the spectacular colors … you choose blue?”

The Mother winked over the top of the mirror.

“Sometimes the simplest things are the best,” she said.

Proto did feel better after the Mother presented him to the Originals. They didn’t think his blue was boring at all. Not only did they do the teddy dance, they did the teddy shuffle, the teddy mamba, and the teddy salsa as well.

“I have one more surprise,” the Mother said. “While you were napping, each of you underwent a minor surgery.”

A bombination rose among the teddies.

“Surgery?” asked Edmund.

“Are we sick?” pressed Geoffrey.

“Did we die from dye?” cried Anita.

The Mother folded her old, friendly hands.

“Inside every one of you,” she said, “is a heart.”

The teddies stared in awe at their own bellies.

“I came up with the idea seeing all those hearts in Teddy Poker.” She raised an eyebrow at Proto. “Specifically, when I caught one of you hiding a few cards under his bottom.”

Proto’s plush felt hot. He was ashamed.

“That’s when I realized hiding a heart could make it even more powerful.”

Proto felt the heat of shame change to a glow of pride.

Only one thing bothered him. While the other teddies celebrated, the Mother turned away and wiped her face. Proto believed she was crying. Why on earth, after such a success, would she be sad?

He found out soon.

One day, a friend of the Mother’s came over for cookies and tea. The Mother had warned Proto and the Originals not to talk or move in front of other people. Other people wouldn’t understand teddies as special as them. But this particular guest had brought a smaller person with her—a little girl. The teddies had never seen a little girl up close and were curious.

But they played dead as instructed. When the girl saw the teddies, however, she made a noise unlike any they’d ever heard. It was a scream, but instead of terrifying Proto, it electrified him with joy. The little girl ran back to her mother and tugged on her arm.

“My little girl wants one of those teddies very badly,” the woman said. “They’re so colorful!”

Proto was alarmed to see the Mother dabbing her eyes again.

“I know,” the Mother replied. “Once I dyed them, I knew people would ask.”

The Mother sniffled and kept talking. She gestured at the leaky sink, the cracked window repaired with tape. The woman pulled money from her purse. The Mother took it and gestured at the pile of teddies.

By this point, Proto had hidden behind the magazine rack. Whatever was going on, he wanted no part of it.

The little girl hoorayed and scrambled toward the teddies. Being a teddy himself, Proto noticed the tiny little motions of all the Originals seizing in suspense.

The girl swept Anita into her arms and hugged her.

Anita looked happier than any teddy Proto had ever seen. And then, like a light switching off, Anita was gone. Only her teddy body remained, as lifeless as a pillow. The little girl sure didn’t notice. She was still happily blabbering to the chartreuse teddy as she and the woman left the house.

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